Net Neutrality, Non-profits, Non-sequitors

Sep 29, 2009

Some linkage, with notes:

It’s been a big week at Free Press headquarters, as we’ve seen one of our signature issues – Net Neutrality – make huge strides toward becoming the law of the land. I remember well when the Save the Internet campaign washed across the web back in 2006. I didn’t know much about Free Press then, but thanks to the campaign I knew about Net Neutrality and how important it was to protect the open Internet. It’s a great feeling to now be so involved in the issue, and helping it become a reality.

With a solid statement by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and followup statements from President Obama and some top congressional leaders (including Nancy Pelosi), it looks like, at the very least, the FCC is going to inscribe these rules in stone. That will be the cap of some very hard work by my colleagues over the years. Needless to say, there’s been a lot of backslapping in the office.

If this whole notion of network neutrality is a bit much for you to grasp, some recommended reading. First, check out the New Yorker’s interview with Genachowski himself, in which the Chairman does a good job of laying out some fairly wonky arguments.

Then, see David Weinberger’s excellent posts on the issue. Weinberger is justifiably excited, as the open web is at the very core of what he’s been writing about for more than a decade. His good-natured, intellectual brand of humor almost – almost – hides his contempt for the telecoms that want to protect their fiefdoms and decide what content we can access, and when. Almost. (See the astroturf BroadbandforAmerica for a sense of the disingenuouses of the big ISPs).

Seth Godin is valuing non-profits’ success with social media by the number of Twitter followers they have. Ok, so it’s not that simple, but he doesn’t go a whole lot deeper than that. As you might expect, nonprofit techies aren’t happy.

Want to get retweeted? Here’s how. It might seem cheesy to work so hard for a retweet, but if you’re in the advocacy business it pays to get other people to spread your message for you.